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Michael Robert Evans - Review of Susan W. Fair, edited by Jean Blodgett, Alaska Native Art: Tradition, Innovation, Continuity

Abstract

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Tradition, Susan Fair notes in this beautiful and interesting book, is a difficult concept to grapple with, especially when reaching across cultural distances. In this book, Fair takes the position that tradition is not a fixed and rigid thing, but rather something that evolves and shifts as time moves along. “Culture and tradition are continually being re-created by the people who live it, so it must also be experientially re-created by the people who try to recognize it” (xxiii). This approach is not new to folklore; among the strengths of Alaska Native Art is that it embraces this idea with enthusiasm, vigor, and affection.

In fact, the book’s subtitle reflects this view up front. This is not a book about classic forms of Alaskan native art, although those forms are represented well in its pages. It is also not merely about new, hip styles of art in the North, although those are here as well. Rather, it is about the range and the continuum of old styles and new, underscoring the overarching point that culture cannot be broken and tradition cannot be lost. Boundaries are always being pushed; that was as true ten thousand years ago as it is today. This book lives on that edge, encompassing both the familiar and the surprising.

The book brings with it an impressive pedigree. Susan W. Fair is a well-known name to people studying material culture and the art of the North. She worked with the Alaska State Council on the Arts for some time, and Alaska Native Art is derived from her many years of work on her dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania. The book is edited by Jean Blodgett, another recognized and respected name in folklore and art circles, and the foreword was written by Charlotte Fox of the Alaska State Council on the Arts.

The book offers readers--and viewers--a stunning array of photographs, as might be expected in a work of this kind from the University of Alaska Press. To Fair’s and Blodgett’s credit, the photos are not limited to depictions of Northern art. In addition to such photos, and there are many, the images include landscapes, candid and posed portraits of artists, shots of Northern architecture, and more. This blend emphasizes the importance of context and place, a theme Fair stresses throughout the book. And these photos are not just tacked in or thrown on; the photo opposite the Foreword, in the very early pages of the book, shows a breathtaking landscape with colorful Alpine vegetation in the foreground and towering blue peaks in the distance.

The range of kinds of art is equally impressive. Many books on Northern art focus heavily on sculpture and printmaking. Those arts are represented well in this book, but readers will also discover feltwork, dolls, basketry, masks, and more. One photo shows a pair of children’s mukluks (boots) made of salmon skin. Another shows “Guardians and Sentinels,” a work by Susie Qimmiqsaq Bevins that depicts three figures cut from aluminum plate. As the title and introduction promise, readers will come to an understanding of the power of innovation within the parameters of tradition.

Folklorists will find Alaska Native Art familiar, engaging, and inspirational. Fair’s approach to understanding art is well grounded in folkloric themes. As Fair writes:

The emphasis on persons and cultures throughout this book, in addition to the discussion of objects, is an important one to me as a folklorist. I find it inappropriate, even impossible, to separate material things from the people who make and use them. I prefer to focus on the way in which the construction of material things requires the genius of individual expression, the influence of many people, the intervention of memory and collective tradition, and, often, the need to make an honest living doing what one does best. (xxi)

In support of that effort, Fair offers extensive quotes from artists and information based on lengthy interviews with them.

Fair died in 2003, and the Alaska State Council on the Arts deserves credit for bringing this book to press after her passing. The Council hired Jean Blodgett to pull Fair’s 700-page manuscript, along with notes, documents, and more than 600 photographs, into the book’s final form. Blodgett did an impressive job of editing the text, paring down the collection of photos, writing captions where needed, and blending it all into a pleasant whole. Some folklorists will lament Blodgett’s decision to remove the ethnopoetic form that Fair used to convey some of the interview passages, but Blodgett, guided by her mission to make the book accessible to a wide audience, took that step to avoid narrowing the book’s impact. The result is a book that is easily readable, deeply interesting, and beautiful in its presentation.

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[Review length: 789 words • Review posted on February 13, 2008]